Musicמט חיימוביץ

Matt Haimovitz

Matt Haimovitz is an Israeli-born cellist based in the United States and Canada, known for performing classical music in unusual venues and for founding the Oxingale label.

born 1970Bach cello suites in nightclubsFounding Oxingale RecordsThe 2003 Anthem tour

Born: 3 December 1970, Bat Yam
Occupation: cellist, record producer, composer, university teacher
Education: Harvard University, Juilliard School, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Founded: Oxingale Records (1999)

Matt Haimovitz was born in 1970 in Bat Yam

Matt Haimovitz was born in Bat Yam in 1970 to Jewish parents who had moved to Israel from Romania. When he was 5, the family settled in Palo Alto, California.

He began cello lessons at 7 with Irene Sharp and later studied with Gábor Reitő. After Itzhak Perlman heard him play, his family moved to New York in 1983 so he could study with Leonard Rose at the Juilliard School. He later earned a degree from Harvard, finishing in 1996.

In 1985 he performed with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 1986 he toured the US with them and received an Avery Fisher Career Grant. In 1987 he signed a recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon.

After his contract ended, he turned to less common repertoire and played in clubs, restaurants and cafés. In 2002 he toured North America with Bach's cello suites, and in 2003 he led the Anthem tour of American music. He founded the Oxingale label with composer Luna Pearl Woolf, who became his wife.

He taught at the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 1999 to 2004 and has taught at McGill University's Schulich School of Music in Montreal since 2004. In 2015 Oxingale joined with PENTATONE to form a shared series.